Critical Thinking in the Pediatric Unit : Skills to Assess, Analyze and Act

Help your new graduate nurses gain the critical thinking skills necessary to practice in a complex pediatric environment.

The pediatric unit is a complex environment, requiring nurses to display unique skills and abilities yet there is very little literature available for pediatric professionals. With "Critical Thinking in the Pediatric Unit: ""Skills to Assess, Analyze, and Act, "you will raise the standard of professional nursing practice and teach clinical care providers how to function at a higher level by developing nurses critical thinking abilities.Build confidence and competence through critical thinking

"Critical Thinking in the Pediatric Unit" is a new, easy-to-read resource that explains the principles of critical thinking and how to encourage nurses to use critical thinking methods.

This essential book covers how to lead classroom sessions training new graduate nurses and experienced nurses in developing critical thinking skills, including successful classroom processes and learning strategies. It also includes workbooks and handouts to supplement classroom learning.Critical thinking is essential to nurses success

The ability to think critically is crucial to patient care and reducing medical errors. This book provides nurse managers and educators with accessible and easy ways to teach these valuable skills to their staff.Benefits for both novice and seasoned professional nurses

Learn how to develop a culture of critical thinking, from coaching new grads through bad patient outcomes to encouraging experienced nurses by setting expectations.

"Critical Thinking in the Pediatric Unit" provides strategies for managers and nurse educators to use in developing critical thinking skills during orientation and beyond and includes tools and resources for ongoing development.

You also get a CD-ROM containing all the book s valuable and completely customizable resources such as pediatric unit-specific

• assessment tools
• case studies
• worksheets
• sample questions

"Critical Thinking in the Pediatric Unit: Skills to Assess, Analyze, and Act" is a must-have for:

• chief nursing officers
• directors of nursing
• nurse managers
• nurse educators

Take a look at the Table of Contents

Introduction: Critical thinking in the pediatric unit
Chapter 1: Defining critical thinking
Chapter 2: New graduate nurses and critical thinking
Chapter 3: The critical thinking classroom
Chapter 4: Orientation: Bringing critical thinking to the clinical environment
Chapter 5: Nursing practice that promotes and motivates critical thinking
Chapter 6: Novice to expert: Setting realistic expectations for critical thinking
Chapter 7: Applying critical thinking to nursing documentation
Chapter 8: Relating critical thinking to its higher purpose

Chapter 9: Resources and toolsLearning Objectives

• Describe the characteristics of the pediatric unit that require good critical-thinking skills.
• Identify the key aspects of critical thinking and how nurses develop competency.
• Analyze the factors that contribute to new graduates lack of critical thinking and strategies to counteract this.
• Utilize the classroom environment to teach, promote, and support the development of critical thinking.
• Identify ways to incorporate critical thinking development into orientation programs and ways to evaluate nurses progress.
• Discuss the role played by managers and educators in promoting environments that support critical thinking.
• Evaluate the challenges facing new and experienced nurses in incorporating critical thinking skills into practice and strategies to help meet expectations.
• Apply critical thinking to nursing documentation.

"Faculty disclosure: Shelley Cohen, Polly Gerber Zimmerman, and June Marshall have declared that they have no commercial/financial vested interest in this product.""

About the author

Shelley Cohen, RN, BS, CEN, is the founder and president of Health Resources Unlimited, a Tennessee-based healthcare education and consulting company. Through her seminars for nursing professionals, Cohen coaches and educates healthcare workers and leaders across the country to provide the very best in patient care. She is an editorial advisor forStrategies for Nurse Managers, published by HCPro, Inc., and is a frequent contributor toNursing Managementmagazine. She co-authored the book"A Practical Guide to Recruitment and Retention: Skills for Nurse Managers"also published by HCPro.About the contributing authors

Polly Gerber Zimmermann, RN, MS, MBA, CEN, has been active in emergency and medical-surgical nursing clinical practice for more than 29 years and in nurse educating for more than 10 years. She is a tenured assistant professor in the Department of Nursing at the Harry S. Truman College (Chicago).

June Marshall, RN, MS, CNAA, BC, has been a pediatric nurse for more than 33 years, and has worked in a variety of roles, including staff nurse, clinical nurse specialist, adjunct faculty, entrepreneur, and nurse administrator. She has presented at numerous local, regional, and national conferences and has published many articles."